


Few Short Words

by superfandomqueen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shop, Alternate Universe - College, College AU, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstanding, Mutual Pining, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27219553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfandomqueen/pseuds/superfandomqueen
Summary: Romelle and Lotor are rekiddling their friendship and misunderstandings happen.
Relationships: Krolia/Romelle (Voltron), Kromelle - Relationship, Lance/Lotor (Voltron), Lancelot - Relationship, Lotor & Romelle (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: Kromelle Mini-Exchange





	Few Short Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abscission](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abscission/gifts).



> A massive thank you to HaroThar for betaing this fic! This fic is for lanzi! For the Kromelle Exchange. I hope you enjoy it!

Romelle fiddled with her phone as she waited. She didn’t want to go in and sit down, not without… the person she was meeting there first. If she was there and he decided to ditch…

She huffed, chewing on her fingernail. Romelle flinched as her phone buzzed against her chest. Quickly checking, her shoulder slumped. The notification was just from some game. Not what she was looking for.

A figure stopped in front of her.

Romelle blinked slowly as she looked upwards. Right at who she was waiting for. “L-Lotor?!”

He hadn’t changed a bit.

His hair was still long, still silky. His terracotta skin was still perfect. His smile just as perfect as before. And he was wear--

Romelle took a moment to look over his outfit. For once, he wasn’t wearing the stuffy clothes that were most definitely ironed and starched within an inch of their life. The clothes that always made him look like a private school prep boy. Instead he was wearing a t-shirt that exclaimed “YOU’RE OUTTA THIS WORLD” on top of the Andromeda Galaxy and what looked to be the softest pair of jeans if there ever was one.

Now she felt stuffy in her pencil skirt and blouse.

In her defense, she was just at a presentation for her college.

A small, nearly hysterical giggle slipped out. Lotor frowned. “What?”

Another giggle followed the first. “Our roles are flipped.”

The frown eased, turning into a small, genuine smile. Romelle missed those smiles. She supposed that’s why she was here after all.

She missed him.

“Yeah, for once.” Lotor looked over her business attire again. “What is the outfit for?”

“Presentation for my college course. Wanna go inside? I need another hit of coffee,” Romelle said, freezing only for a moment at her comment. Was it inappropriate to make those kinds of jokes with people one had had a falling out of sorts with? And then hadn’t talked to for over three years since.

“I need one as well,” Lotor agreed, offering a small amused smile and pushed open the  _ Beans of Marmora _ .

~~~

Krolia listened with one ear while Lance ranted about some  _ mullet haired jerk _ who had been doing  _ xyz _ . Suddenly he stopped, either he had run into the end of his story or a customer came in. She briefly wondered if Lance had been talking about her son, they did have similar features. In the first month that Lance had started working here, nearly three years ago now, he had asked about her hair. He now only bugged her occasionally about her hair.

Looking up, Krolia saw what made Lance stop talking.  _ Lotor Daibazal. _ She knew of his parents, they weren’t that… what was a nice way to put it--

Lotor moved out of the way of the door to reveal Romelle, breaking Krolia’s line of thought. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Krolia’s eyes roamed over the college student’s outfit; fitted black suit jacket, blush pink blouse, black pencil skirt, and heels.

She wondered why they had come in together, she had never once seen them there together before. Lotor came at 7am every morning for his complex coffee and Romelle at 10am for hers. But never once were they there at the same time.

Yet, this time, both of them were heading for the counter at the same. Romelle was clutching her purse and phone tightly in hand. Lotor was rubbing his fingers together and readjusting his long silver hair.

_ Maybe they are on a date _ , she thought, her heart sinking at the thought. Lance’s tapping fingers pulled her from her thought, his heel bouncing up and down as he waited for the two to get to the counter. His smile looked dimmer than usual.

Krolia looked over Lotor’s outfit critically. It was much more casual than Romelle’s, just a t-shirt with some pun and well worn jeans. She hoped that they weren’t there for a date, not with the vast difference of their outfits.

“What can I get for you today?” Lance said almost brightly.

“The usual, and whatever she wants,” Lotor answered and gestured to Romelle behind him. Krolia’s heart hurt, she looked back at the glass she was cleaning, missing the look from Romelle.

“The usual,” Romelle echoed, her smile nervous. Her eyes flicking to the oblivious Krolia who was now starting the orders, both known by heart.

Lance nodded and gave them the price, his normal flirting was half-hearted at best. Krolia slid the two coffees over the counter, nodding at the duo.

Krolia told herself not to stare at them as they left. She only peeked once or twice -- more like multiple times -- as they got a table near the back corner. At least she was doing better than Lance.

“Lance,” Krolia chided as she reorganized the cups in front of her. “You’re staring.”

Lance turned around and headed into the back, his shoulders having gained a slump to them. Krolia frowned after him -- clearly he had come to the same conclusion as her as to the date idea. With a quick look to the duo, she could clearly see Romelle’s hand covering Lotor’s as they looked into each other’s eyes. Krolia’s heart felt like someone was squeezing it. She pressed her lips tightly together, chiding herself for waiting.

Krolia wasn’t one to ever wait for something. If she wanted something, she went for it. So why had she waited for this?

She didn’t have the answer.

Krolia knew that Lance, for all of his bolster, could only take so much rejection before it started hurting too much. With a quick glance around the shop, Krolia slid into the doorway between the front of the coffee shop and the back.

“Lance?” Krolia called out softly, not wanting to draw attention to them. She could hear a faint sniff. She closed her eyes. She might know a fair bit of things, but handling  _ this _ was not one of them.

~~~

Lotor seated himself across from her, without preamble, stated, “I’m sorry.”

Romelle frowned at him. “About?”

“I asked to meet up because I wanted to apologize,” Lotor continued, his eyes fixed on hers with that same intense look. “I knew you liked Allura too and I went ahead and agreed to a date, then another, and I never told you. I’m sorry.”

Romelle felt her eyes start to burn and quickly blinked. She had almost pushed those memories out of her mind. It had hurt like hell when she found out why he had been blowing her off then. “Alright.” She swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry for how I reacted when I found out.”

He shook his head. “You had every right to be angry at me.”

“I would’ve done the same thing if Allura had given me the time of day,” Romelle pushed back, inhaling deeply and opening her mouth to continue. “We were both in the wrong for different reasons.”

Lotor was quiet for a moment. Then slowly, he nodded. His eyes had yet to move from hers. “Perhaps we could…” Lotor paused, clearly taking the time to think over however he wanted to say something. Romelle fiddled with her coffee, letting him come to the decision. “We could start over? As potential friends again?”

Romelle just drank her coffee, using it as an excuse not to speak. Thinking the words over. She had missed him, it just wasn’t the same without her long time best friend. Without her platonic soulmate. But finding out that he had blown her off to date the girl she had also liked… that hurt just as bad as not talking to him. Romelle looked at her ex-best friend, thinking hard.

Lotor was tapping his cup and taking the occasion drink from it, but he wasn’t looking at her now. Giving her time to think through the offer. Giving her time to reject it.

Romelle set her cup with a solid thump. “I would…” she paused, Lotor’s eyes had jumped up to hers, fear was openly seen in them. She reached across and set her hand on Lotor’s. “I would like that.”

Lotor’s shoulder lost the tension held in them, a bright smile breaking out on his face. “Thank you. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” Romelle laced their hands and squeezed before letting go. Lotor finished off the rest of his sugary coffee. Moving to stand up, Romelle asked, “Would you like another cup?”

Lotor glanced at his cup, thinking for a moment, then shook his head. “Thanks, but no. I already had plenty of caffeine.” 

Settling back into her chair, Romelle grinned. “So, you’re a reg?”

Lotor chuckled. “Yes, I am. As are you.”

“How haven’t we run into each other here before then?” Romelle asked, then sipped her coffee. Closing her eyes, she hummed happily. Krolia always made it exactly how she liked it.

“Pure chance, I suppose.” Lotor had done nearly the same move as her before remembering and set his cup back down. “It helps that the baristas are cute.”

Romelle came close to snorting her coffee out of her nose. It was a near miss. “You got that right.”

Lotor looked delighted to hear the comment, then he inhaled clearly.

“Indeed.” 

Romelle watched him for a moment. If his type hadn’t changed then… “So, Lance huh?”

His eyes flicked over to the counter, his face scrunching up before morphing into a smirk. Romelle followed his line of sight. Krolia was watching them, Lance behind her fussing with something in his hands. The blonde could feel her cheeks start to heat.

“So Krolia, huh?”

Romelle felt her entire face start to burn with embarrassment. “Am I that obvious?”

“She’s more your type then Lance,” Lotor said smoothly, he was still smirking over at the counter.

Romelle glanced back at Krolia, who seemed to be cleaning the counter rather aggressively, and her dark eyes were narrowed at Lotor. Romelle could help but wish that those eyes were on her instead.

Her face burned even hotter as she slumped down in her chair. “She’s just too hot.”

Lotor laughed.

~~~

Lance looked a little watery eyed as he was dabbing at his eyes. But as Krolia opened her mouth to say something, Lance spoke up. “Damn, that sucks Kro.”

“What does?” Krolia said, scowling a little as Lance covered up any break in his goofball layer.

“Your crush just came in for a date,” Lance said, sympathetically. He patted her shoulder as he leaned against the doorjamb, watching the counter.

“As did yours,” Krolia replied, rolling her eyes. “I’m clearly heart broken.”

“On the inside,” Lance said with a half-teasing half-serious tone. Krolia rolled her eyes again. “Wonder what he said?”

_ And  _ I _ am supposed to be the one who is having a crisis because she didn’t have the guts to make a move _ . Krolia snorted and shook her head, glancing at Lance to see he was watching the duo. She huffed and grabbed a washcloth, if he didn’t want to talk about it that was no skin off of her nose.

With a dampened washcloth, she started wiping down the surfaces.  _ I have more than enough guts to ask someone out on a date. But come on, it’s not like Romelle ever showed interest in me.  _ Krolia rubbed on a stuck on spot that must’ve been missed last time around. She could hear Lance behind her puttering with the ingredients beneath the counter.

_ Romelle is just a cute girl, there’s lots of cute girls. _ Feeling eyes on her, Krolia looked up to see Romelle’s cheeks flood with color. Lotor had a smirk on his face. Krolia narrowed her eyes at the nerdy college kid that Lance was infatuated with.

The brief thought that the two of them were doing this to get to Lance, and possibly her, flickered through her mind. But she shook it away, it was a ridiculous tactic to make someone jealous by being obvious about a relationship in front of them. The idea was ludicrous.

One dumb enough that Lance had probably tried it one point. Krolia scrubbed on the spot harder, oblivious to it already being gone.

Romelle slumped down on the table with a bright red face as Lotor laughed. Krolia rolled her shoulders.

“I will be back shortly.”

Krolia swept by Lance, who was organizing the ingredients for their fall special under the counter where they kept the stuff for speciality drinks. Lance looked up as she passed.

“Gonna go get your girl?”

Krolia felt her eye twitch and refused to deem him worthy of an answer. Stopping in front of the table, Krolia nodded at the two of them with cool regard.

In a low voice, Krolia nearly growled out, “Would you care to take your date elsewhere?”

To her irritation, Romelle burst out laughing, Lotor covering his face with his hands. “We were  _ just _ discussing that you may have mistaken this as a date.” Romelle looked up at Krolia, still craning her head back and she stood up. “I am a lesbian and I kinda--” Suddenly Romelle’s cheeks flared red as Krolia met her eyes. The next sounds coming out of her throat sounding of some sort of gibberish.

“She’d like to date you,” it was Lotor who continued the sentence, muffled by his hands. He raised his head up to watch her, his expression scrunched up. “Like, really  _ really _ like to date you.”

Romelle made some kind of noise, drawing Krolia’s attention away from Lotor. Taking his chance of escape, Lotor slipped by her. In doing this, he left Romelle and Krolia in silence.

Krolia didn’t bother to look behind her to see where he went, she had a hunch he was finally going to ask out Lance. There was something of twenty bucks on his crush on Lance, Krolia would hate to lose that bet. She would go after him shortly and check on Lance, but first… Krolia looked at Romelle who was still staring at her with a bright blush on her cheeks.

“You wish to go on a date with me?” Krolia asked shortly. Romelle nodded hurriedly, cheeks never dimming. Krolia hummed. Picking up a clean napkin, Krolia pulled out a pen and jotted down a number. She handed it to Romelle, who then stared at it. “Call me when you’re free.”

As she walked away from Romelle, she heard a tiny squeal followed by the sound of someone jumping up and down. A small smile stole onto Krolia’s face.

There was a buzz in her apron. Krolia snagged her phone out of the front pocket.

_ free tnite 8 work? _

Krolia opened the message, tapping quickly, pausing only when the doorbell chimed. But it was only a customer leaving. Lance was holding his phone revelantly in his hand.

“Got a date?” Krolia drawled as she slid back in behind the counter, finishing her text.

“Yeah,” Lance breathed out, sounding shocked. “You?”

Krolia smirked as she heard another phone go off and a small squeal following it.

_ Perfect. I’ll meet you here? _

_ yes! _


End file.
